


Leash Laws

by fencer_x



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencer_x/pseuds/fencer_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroh considers the merits of being Shiro's 'guard dog'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leash Laws

Kuroh supposes that, in some ways, he's always been a dog without a master, a stray loping about, all mangy fur and wild eyes and no place to call home and foolishly thinking himself "free" because of it. And perhaps that's not so bad--not every animal takes to taming, after all, and some even died, choking on a leash they could not, would not tolerate at the hands of a master unworthy of being served.

But Kuroh recognizes that while such dogs may exist, he is not one of them--and while he may not have a master, that doesn't mean he doesn't _want_ one, on some level he can't even acknowledge, that he doesn't thrive under a steady hand on his shoulder and a gentle, smiling chuckle thrown his way at a job well done, just shy of voicing _good boy_ like Kuroh can hear in his head. Kuroh is a dog without a master, and it _hurts_ , almost physically so.

He'd had a master once--Ichigen-sama of the quiet demeanor and sleeping power, the words of wisdom delivered in a 5-7-5 pattern comforting in its familiarity, the innate trust and fathomless compassion he doled out for a scruffy child who thought himself larger than life until called upon to prove it--and failing. But for a time there, he'd had a master and everything associated therein. Ichigen-sama had given him a _home_ \--not merely a roof over his head or food in his belly, all a master might owe his pupil, but love and warmth and wisdom and everything a parent owes their child. With every breath he speaks now, noting Ichigen-sama as a King, as his master, a part of him winces at the cold distance he places between himself and the man who loved and cared for him like flesh-and-blood.

Ichigen-sama had given Kuroh his everything, had given him a place to belong, a role to own--and while he's lost that home and everything associated with it, now…now he has Shiro. Isana Yashiro, a bumbling idiot on the surface and a conniving little shit underneath who refuses to take responsibility for actions and yet somehow triggers within all around him an innate desire to _care_ for him. Kuroh is having none of that--but then, he figures Shiro needs someone around who won't be taken in, who'll see through him to the man underneath the illusion, because everyone needs _someone_ who knows and accepts them for what they truly are. If it turns out that what Shiro "truly is" is evil, through and through, then that bridge will be crossed--but until then, he's content to be a mooring, a lighthouse, an unmoving shelter for Shiro when he finds himself lost in a sea of memories false and true.

A voice in his mind points out that this is what Shiro _does_ , slinks in between the sensitive chinks in his opponents' armor and charms them into _feeling_ for him, wanting to care for and protect him, to keep him from floating away, but Kuroh reasons that he's got a sound head on his shoulders and that watching over Shiro does not preclude _watching_ Shiro. Evaluation and determination cannot be conducted from afar in this case--he has to barge in and invade personal space. The trouble is, Shiro seems to _welcome_ that.

The Blue King has the gall to ask--between bouts of firmly planting his boot well up Kuroh's ass--if Shiro is his new master, and Kuroh nearly has to bite off his own tongue to keep a traitorous _yes_ from falling from his lips--not because he wants it or believes it to be true, but because it simply _is_ true, the cold facts left behind when all the lies and illusions are stripped away. Somewhere between disappearing acts on rooftops in Shibuya and wild goose chases around Ashinaka Academy, Kuroh has found himself with a collar around his neck linked to a leash he's all but forced into Shiro's hand.

The Blue King goes on, pointing out flaw after crack after irksome inconsistency in Shiro's demeanor, painting as convincing a picture as anything of this evil Colorless King's plan, to draw Kuroh close, to straddle the fence and keep Kuroh guessing as to which way he'll eventually fall, snapping Kuroh's leash and keeping him on tight rein--friends close and dogs who'll just as soon bite the hand that feeds them closer. It's perfect, perfectly believable, and Kuroh's been lulled into complacency by less convincing stories than this before--so why the words falling from the lips of a King so powerful as Munakata Reishi should resonate with less force within Kuroh than Shiro's incessant humming in the mornings, Beethoven's 9th seeping under his guard until he has to catch himself before he joins in as he filets their breakfast, is beyond him, but the fact remains--he doesn't trust the Blues any further than he can throw them, and he'll make his own damn decisions about Shiro's innocence, thank-you-very-much. 

"You have a point…" he allows coolly, because if he doesn't offer _something_ , he's quite sure his skull is about to be crushed in the King's viselike grip. "Running around laughing like an idiot, while everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie… You're right; that's the sort of fellow he is."

Victory flashes in Munakata's eyes; Kuroh recognizes it instantly, for it shudders down his spine as well at the King's predictable follow-up, an attempt to appeal to Kuroh's rational nature. "And is that a man…worth risking your life for?"

Kuroh feels his features relax as a cool, calm confidence drapes itself over him--not confidence in himself, not arrogance of any sort…just simple relief--and then everything blips out to black.

* * *

Kuroh checks himself; it's true, he's like a dog in many ways, but in the most immediately important respect--he's more human than anything. Dogs will give trust blindly, their loyalty fierce and evergreen even towards a master who might not deserve it. But Kuroh…Kuroh's trust must be _earned_. Earned and kept, it cannot be trained into him--and for a decade now, he's shared his life and his love on top of that trust with one who had earned it ten times over.

Given his leash and leagues to run, now, he's starting to accept that the master doesn't always choose the pupil--or the pet--and while he cannot say that he trusts Shiro more now than five minute or five days ago, he trusts _himself_ implicitly--because Ichigen-sama trusted him first.

It's _his_ place to evaluate, to judge, to deem Shiro good or evil or some mishmash of both--not Blue, not Red, not any color of the rainbow. He'll be the last one standing, Kotowari unsheathed and gleaming and either pressing into Shiro's throat to draw a long bead of crimson or the hilt gripped firmly in both hands as he leads a charge for his new King. _He_ and no one else, for this is his task, his _final impossible task_ , and while he couldn't protect Ichigen-sama, while he lacked some _something_ that he still hasn't managed to find yet, this conviction he's been instilled with drives him to place himself between Shiro and all the slings and arrows that threaten to tear him asunder before judgment has been passed.

He'll die before he rolls over and lets them have their way with his liege--at least, not before Kuroh's had his way with him first.


End file.
